Background: President Marcos will address at 3:30 this afternoon the formal opening of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at its temporarily headquarters in Makati. Takeshi Watanabe, ADB president; C.S. Krishna Moorthi, vice president, and the ten directors of the ADB will be presented to President Marcos by Finance Secretary Eduardo Z. Romualdez who is chairman of the board of governor of the BANK.

Secretary Romualdez will deliver the address. Other speakers will include U Nyum executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), and Watanabe.

Representatives of the 31 member countries, and various international organizations, high Philippine government officials and members of the local business and banking community will attend the historic event.

MEMBERS
Nineteen of the 31 member nations are in Asia and the Far East. These are Afghanistan, Australia Cambodia, Ceylon, Nationalist China, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Viet Nam, Thailand, and West Samoa.

The non-regional member countries are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, United State and Sweden.

GREAT EXPECTATION Southeast asians have placed great expectations in the ADB. It is here where one-third of the world population live, mostly suffering from economic underdevelopment.

Majority of these nations have long been confronted with an urgent necessity for economic and such uplift through industrialization promotion of agriculture, diversification of exports, further exploitation of their natural resources, and promotion of other domestic endeavors.

Aid to these countries from Japan and other industrially advanced nations cannot be described as large Asia result, foreign aid received by these nations per capita in 1963 amounted to only U.S. 2.50 compared with 5.90 for Africa and 5 for Latin America. As these Southeast Asian nations share common suffering.

MANILA Dec. 5 - (AP) The date for the opening of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in suburban Makati has been seen for Dec. 19, Finance, Secretary Eduardo Z. Romualdez announced Monday.

Romualdez made the statement in a letter to United Nations Secretary General U Thant and world business leaders requesting representatives to the opening ceremonies.

A spokesman said similar letters have been sent to the foreign ministers of the 31 member countries of the ADB.

Romualdez said the officers of the bank will be presented during the ceremonies. The opening address will be given by Takeshi Watanabe of Japan, president of the ADB.

the bank's program. Japan also has pledged 200 million.

The bank's operations basically will involve financing regional and national development projects through loans, inducing private capital to participate in the region's growth and providing technical assistance in the shaping of development proposals.

Although its capitalization is a 1,000 million, only half of that amount will be paid up by 1790. The rest will be held in the form of callable funds.

Watanabe has appealed for more contributions or "special funds." to avoid dissipating the bank's capital and has expressed confidence the rich member countries will follow the United States lead.

Unlike comparable financing institutions-such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the African Development Bank - the Asian Bank has permitted nations outside the region to participate.

Secretary of Finance Eduardo Z. Romualdez has invited member-countries of the Asian Development Bank to attend the inauguration of its temporary headquarters at the Metropolitan Building, Makati, Rizal on Dec. 19.

Romualdez extended the invitation on behalf of the Philippine government and on behalf of the Asian Development Bank in his capacity as chairman of the board of governors.

He also invited Secretary General U Thant of the United Nations or his representative, Executive Secretary U Nyun of ECAFE, and the presidents of the World Bank, IMF, the Inter-American and the African Development Bank.

MILESTONE
In his letter, Romualdez pointed out that the inauguration of the Asian Development Bank "is a most significant milestone in the life of this regional institution."
The ADB board of governors has set the bank's operation on Dec. 18.

Former Secretary of Commerce Cornelio Balmaceda, Philippine director in the bank and chairman of the Philippine coordinating committee on the Asian Development Bank, has organized several committees to workout the preparations for this international event.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos and the bank president Takeshi Watanabe were the main speakers along with U Nyun of Burma, executive secretary of ECAFE, and Finance Secretary Eduardo Romualdez chairman of the bank's board of Governors. Marcos praised the bank as a cornerstone for a new era" not only for Asia but the rest of the world.

He said it "marks the first concrete manifestation of the capability of Asians to join hands in regional cooperation and the attainment of world peace."
Watanabe said the bank represents a major effort in bridging "the chasm between the developed and the developing nations which he warned "is widening everyday."
He emphasized: "This gap must be plugged quickly test our ambitions fall victim to the traditional sense of fatalistic resignation."
"It is our express purpose to serve Asia as a clearing house of common understanding not only between Asia and non-Asia countries but within our own region as well." Watanabe said He said "with the tools of regional cooperation, the nations of this region are beginning to build a pyramid to prosperity.

"The Asian Development Bank has been summoned to serve as a cornerstone in that pyramid" he said.

Monday's opening formally puts the bank into operation, although an inaugural meeting was held in Tokyo last Nov. 21 to choose a president and 10 man board of directors who will guide the SI-nation agency.

Countries represented on the board are the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Malaya, India, Indonesia, Japan, West Germany, the United States and Canada.

The United States has contributed 200 million toward capitalizing the bank and have promised more in the way of special funds to help support.